The Snowman

"In Oslo, after the first snow of the season has fallen, a woman disappears, and a sinister snowman is left in her wake. As irascible detective Harry Hole realizes that this is only one of multiple disappearances, he begins to think a serial killer may be at work--and may be drawing in Hole personally and intentionally."

I've never read any Jo Nesbo novels until I picked this one up. I enjoyed the book, however, there were lots of characters that made it a little difficult to follow, but otherwise it was an enjoyable suspense/thriller novel. I don't know if the translation was perfectly on par (it never really is), but again, it was fun following along attempting to crack the case of who is "The Snowman" (?).

Nesbo is a great writer, I found out after reading I think his third Harry Hole novel that I should start from the beginning and that is what I did.
One novel leads to another with characters going from one book to another.
It's been fun, Nesbo has been good, I would highly recommend the Harry Hole books.
They will keep you going for weeks, it's like 8-9 books intertwined.
A very good read, Nesbo's Harrry Hole novels.

The police investigation into the disappearance of a woman leads the Oslo police to a bizarre and frightening murder scene. The victim is found in the snowy forest, with part of her body attached to a snowman. In charge of the case, Inspector Harry Hole comes to suspect this case relates to other missing women cases--more specifically, missing mothers--over a period of time. And he believes a serial killer now exists. Furthermore, he is concerned after earlier receiving a riddling and ominous letter about the appearance of the `snowman.` Obsessed and looking gaunt, Harry plods through the case amidst working with a sharp, new female partner and rekindling an old yet complicated romantic relationship. Jo Nesbø`s novel is undiplomatically dark and thrilling.

This was my first book by this author and it pulled me in from the get-go! I can't wait to read previous books by this author; I read dozens of mysteries and to find a story with a murder scenario that was unheard of by me, was quite surprising! It was hard to keep track of the names because of course the story takes place far far away from the city where I live and there are no names like 'Joe, Sam, Sally, Mike'. If a book makes me want to keep on reading and reading and reading, it's a very good book in my opinion and that is exactly what happened when I started reading this story. Well done!

Harry does find the Snowman after several possible suspects are crossed off the list. Quite a bit of violence in the book, but the chase to find and stop the snowman are worth the read. His next book, The Phantom, picks up after a time lapse of several years and features Harry's teenage "son" as a criminal caught up in the drug trade. So if you liked the main "good" characters in "The Snowman", read "The Phantom".

An excellent thriller-mystery that can actually make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Kudos not only to this Swedish author, but to the English-language interpreter and the voice actor (audiobook) who set the scene in this novel by describing the bleakness of a Scandanavian winter and the desparation and loneliness of fully-developed characters who seem so genuine.